It made normal look strange when Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding shared the ice during the 2004 Olympics, as they did here on Feb. 17, 1994.

Photo: Pascal Rondeau, Getty Images

It made normal look strange when Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding...

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The media attention began after the Jan. 6, 2004, attack on Kerrigan. Here Tonya Harding faces reporters on Jan. 20, 1994, in Portland.

Photo: CRAIG STRONG, Getty Images

The media attention began after the Jan. 6, 2004, attack on...

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On Jan. 7, 1994, Harding was competing in the national figure skating championships in Detroit. It was a day after the attack on Kerrigan. Harding won, but her title was later stripped.

Photo: Mike Powell, Getty Images

On Jan. 7, 1994, Harding was competing in the national figure...

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Harding's supporters rallied to her, including these fans at the Clackamas Town Center mall rink on Jan. 24, 1994, in Portland.

Photo: EUGENE GARCIA, Getty Images

Harding's supporters rallied to her, including these fans at the...

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After questions about whether Kerrigan would be able to compete in the Olympics and whether Harding would be allowed to, both did. Here the two are during a practice session on Feb. 23, 1994.

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After questions about whether Kerrigan would be able to compete in...

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It appeared they both did their best to ignore each other as in this practice session on Feb. 17, 1994, at the Olympics.

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It appeared they both did their best to ignore each other as in...

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Still, it was hard not to catch the two together, as in this practice session on Feb. 22, 1994.

Photo: ERIC FEFERBERG, Getty Images

Still, it was hard not to catch the two together, as in this...

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For Harding, her Olympics will be remembered for a broken shoelace on Feb. 25, 1994. Here a judge examines it.

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For Harding, her Olympics will be remembered for a broken shoelace...

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She left the ice in tears after the lace broke. Judges allowed her to continue.

Photo: Chris Cole, Getty Images

She left the ice in tears after the lace broke. Judges allowed her...

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The Olympics were not kind to her.

Photo: Pascal Rondeau, Getty Images

The Olympics were not kind to her.

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Kerrigan, however, was triumphant. Here she acknowledges the crowd her her performance on Feb. 25, 1994. She won the silver medal.

Photo: Chris Cole, Getty Images

Kerrigan, however, was triumphant. Here she acknowledges the crowd...

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Kerrigan takes the medal stand with gold medal winner Oksana Balul of the Ukraine and Lu Chen of China on Feb. 25, 1994.

Photo: Mike Powell, Getty Images

Kerrigan takes the medal stand with gold medal winner Oksana Balul...

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Tonya Harding's skating future once seemed bright. In 1991 she won the U.S. championships. That is Kerrigan, who finished third, on her left.

Photo: Tim DeFrisco, Getty Images

Tonya Harding's skating future once seemed bright. In 1991 she won...

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But in addition to photos from the rink, there were photos of court proceedings. Here, Jeff Gillooly (R) attends his arraignment on Jan. 19, 1994, for his alleged involvement in the attack on Kerrigan. Gillooly was Harding's ex-husband.

Photo: EUGENE GARCIA, Getty Images

But in addition to photos from the rink, there were photos of court...

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Shawn Eric Eckardt (L), bodyguard of figure skater Tonya Harding, and fellow defendent Derrick Smith (R) are joined by Smith's attorney Robert Goffredi on Jan. 14, 1994, as they face Judge Donald Londer during their arraignment on charges of conspiracy to commit assault in the attack on skater Nancy Kerrigan.

Photo: CHRIS WILKINS, Getty Images

Shawn Eric Eckardt (L), bodyguard of figure skater Tonya Harding,...

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But her skating career crashed. So she turned to boxing. On Feb. 22, 2003, she faced Smantha Brown in a match in Memphis. Harding lost.

But her skating career crashed. So she turned to boxing. On Feb....

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Harding did manage to smile afterward.

Photo: Al Bello, Getty Images

Harding did manage to smile afterward.

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She had better luck on Jan. 20, 2005, when she beat Brittany Drake with a technical knockout in Essington, Pa.

Photo: Boston Globe, Getty Images

She had better luck on Jan. 20, 2005, when she beat Brittany Drake...

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Afterward, the two boxers talked to reporters.

Photo: Boston Globe, Getty Images

Afterward, the two boxers talked to reporters.

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Here is Harding on June 13, 2009, in Atlantic City, N.J., attending the opening weekend of Smokin' Joe Frazier's Sportzbox at Bally's.

Photo: Bobby Bank, Getty Images

Here is Harding on June 13, 2009, in Atlantic City, N.J., attending...

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Kerrigan, meanwhile, had other professional options. A month after the Olympics. She was on "Saturday Night Live." Here she appears with Adam Sandler during "The Denise Show" skit on March 12, 1994.

Photo: Alan Singer, Getty Images

Kerrigan, meanwhile, had other professional options. A month after...

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This is from her opening monologue on March 12, 1994.

Photo: Alan Singer, Getty Images

This is from her opening monologue on March 12, 1994.

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She also began skating professionally. Here she is on Dec. 11, 2013, during the P&G & Wal-Mart "Tribute to American Legends of the Ice" at Izod Center n East Rutherford, N.J.

Photo: Maddie Meyer, Getty Images

She also began skating professionally. Here she is on Dec. 11,...

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More from her show on Dec. 11, 2013.

Photo: Maddie Meyer, Getty Images

More from her show on Dec. 11, 2013.

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On Dec. 3, 2011, she perormedduring Caesars Tribute II: A Salute to the Ladies of the Ice at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J..

She also had a small role in the Will Farrell movie "Blades of Glory." Here Kerrigan and husband, Jerry Solomon, attended the premiere in Los Angeles on March 27, 2007

Photo: Jason Merritt, Getty Images

She also had a small role in the Will Farrell movie "Blades of...

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Kerrigan and Solomon wed on Sept. 9, 1995.

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Kerrigan and Solomon wed on Sept. 9, 1995.

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Her life has not been without tragedy. Her father died after a struggle with her brother. Here she embraces her mother, Brenda Kerrigan, as her father's casket is carried into the church on Jan. 28, 2010.

Photo: Boston Globe, Getty Images

Her life has not been without tragedy. Her father died after a...

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Her brother was tried and acquitted in her father's death. He was convicted of assault and battery. Here Kerrigan hugs her mother as she attends her brother's trial with her husband.

Photo: Boston Globe, Getty Images

Her brother was tried and acquitted in her father's death. He was...

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In January 2004 -- 10 years after the attack -- Kerrigan was inducted into the Skating Hall of Fame.

Photo: Al Messerschmidt, Getty Images

In January 2004 -- 10 years after the attack -- Kerrigan was...

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Harding has been remembered in other ways, including as a hot sauce. The Oregon-made sauce is pictured here on Nov. 7, 2002.

Photo: John Gress, Getty Images

Harding has been remembered in other ways, including as a hot...

Tonya Harding, Nancy Kerrigan linked together by an attack 20 years ago

Twenty years ago, figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was attacked in Detroit, where the U.S. figure skating championships were taking place.

The blow of a metal baton to her knee was the start of one long, strange trip in a sport where participants seem to have fairy princess images.

Kerrigan and her competitor Tonya Harding were linked forever in arenas, courtrooms and the media. There was a made-for-TV movie, an opera and later a rock opera about the whole sordid affair.

The attack left Kerrigan with doubts about whether she would be able to compete in the 1994 Olympics in Norway. And implications about Harding's involvement left doubts about whether she would be allowed to compete.

Both did. Kerrigan won a silver medal. Harding broke a shoelace and finished in eighth place.

Harding now says all the media attention proved to be too much for her, according to ABC.

"Trying to train in front of everyone was so much mania," Harding, now 43, said in an interview for ESPN Films' "The Price of Gold." "Every time I'd jump they would all flash, I would fall on my face and hurt myself a couple of times. It just started becoming really impossible just to even concentrate on anything."

The media frenzy following the attack on Kerrigan, who was widely favored to win a medal at the Winter Olympics in 1994, brought the spotlight squarely upon Harding. She denied any involvement in the attack that might have increased her own odds of Olympic gold.